Yoga Teacher Training

Me with my teacher, Ganga at the graduation ceremony  

I'm back! After a three and half weeks of yoga, mediation, lectures and living in an ashram with 20 other people it's back to reality. Although I'm not sure what I mean by reality.

So here's the recap of my yoga teacher training: it was amazing and everything I thought it would be and more. The ashram I stayed at is really nice. It is located in a small village, the next town (where internet is available) is a 20 minute car ride away. It was nice to be isolated and only surrounded by Indian people that were very friendly but hardly spoke English. 

Girls who live in the village next to the ashram

The ashram wasn't like most ashrams which are open all the time and anyone can stay there as long they are following the rules. This ashram is only used by my teacher, Ganga and belonged to her teacher. She runs teacher trainings and retreats at the ashram but that's really it. I've never stayed at another ashram but my impression is that this ashram is cleaner, nicer, smaller, has a better view and better food than most.

Also there was an outdoor platform espeically for practicing yoga. It was so nice to be outside in the sunshine and fresh air while practicing. I consider myself very lucky to have found this program! 

The yoga platform

View from above of the yoga platform and village

My roommates were three other girls. We were all younger and the particpants started calling our room "the kids room." Probably because we stayed up a little bit later than the other rooms (sometimes past 10pm!) giggling and being silly. 

The schedule was packed full in order to fit 200 hours of learning into the three and half weeks. We practiced asanas and I taught a portion of an asana class once a day, mediated twice a day followed by three lectures. Each day we cleaned the ashram for half an hour and turned in our homework every morning. When I wasn't scheduled to be doing something I was usually studying, washing my clothes or completing my homework. Needless to say I'm excited to be free and do whatever I want whenever I want! Freeeeedom!!

The ashram food was sattvic which is the diet yogis eat. It is vegetarian and there is no garlic, mushrooms or onions. It's suppose to lead to clarity and be good for both the body and the mind. Basically it was fruit for breakfast, dal soup, rice and a vegetable curry for lunch and for dinner a different vegetable curry and dal soup. Followed by ginger lemon hot water or warm milk from the cows that lived nearby. The only sweet thing we had access to was honey, and I've never seen people use so much honey in my life. People would put three huge spoonfuls in their tea or milk, pour loads on their fruit and even lather it on a chapati (a kind of flat bread) for dessert. (Disclaimer: I fully admit to participating in the honey madness.) We seriously went through 750ml of honey every 24 hours. Sometimes they would run out or not give us honey because we were clearly drinking it. That got people pretty riled up, let me tell you! All in all the food was repetitive and didn't have much flavor but it was probably better than most ashram food so I'm not complaining. And plus I don't have to eat it any more! 

Local cows 

The daily lectures were on so many different topics:  from the history of yoga, mediation, philosophy, how to seqence a class, public speaking, to the creation of the universe. We also had workshops on Indian dance and how to create mandalas and yantras.

The kind of yoga I learned to teach is called Raja Dhiraja yoga. Its not a stlye like hatha, vinyasa or astaunga. It includes all of these style because it is a school or lineage of yoga. I learned that most yoga styles are a new invention and have only been created in the past 50-60 years, probably for branding purposes in the west. The basic 35 postures I learned are ancient poses created thousands of years ago by yogis that devoted their lives to creating and studying the affects of poses on the body. Raja Dhiraja yoga focuses on pranayama (breath control), asansas (poses), deep relexation and mediation. It is less strenuous than most yoga in the west (especially astaunga and vinyasa styles) which means it is way more relaxing and great for relieving stress. 

Some of the future teachers after the last asana practice 

This photo was taking during the outing to Naggar Castle

We hiked to this temple from the ashram

Just playing around during at the outing to Naggar Castle 

Cosmic Dancer at Naggar Castle 

Just before sunrise at the ashram. I can't get enough of that view!

I taught a mini yoga class to Carl in the grass outside our hotel today. I can't wait to teach and share all my knowledge with all of you! I'm planning on teaching some free classes in Australia when I am back in December. So those that are around can look forward to some yoga on the beach! Those in the US of A should come on down, I would love to see and practice yoga with all of you!